R5m of companywide expansion for motor-controls firm

Shaw Controls MD Bevan Richards says this has been a milestone year for Shaw Controls. "The upgrades we are implementing during 2011 and 2012 are part of a five-year growth strategy designed to take us a quantum leap forward and position us to take full advantage of the increased demand in our market anticipated in the next few years," he explains.

The company has steadily acquired several properties adjacent to its original site in Robertsham, south of Johannesburg, and work is under way to incorporate all the new properties into a single site. The improvements include a new office block complex to accommodate the company's burgeoning staff complement.

"We are particularly excited about our new 1 000 m2 in-house container conversion yard that will put us at the forefront of container conversions on the continent," Richards said, adding that the company's recently purchased 25t overhead crane for the container conversion yard, which will also have fully equipped workshops, "will make it easy for us to manoeuvre containers around the yard, which will reduce lead times drastically by as much as 25%."

Shaw Controls' sheet metal factory is also undergoing a significant upgrade that includes the commissioning of two additional computer controlled machines and a new seven-stage powder-coating pre-treatment plant equipped with a new powder-coating facility with a gas-fired oven. "In terms of sheet metal production," Richards told Engineering News Online, "we have conducted a complete process review and the upgraded facilities will be configured to speed up processes, increase capacity and generally streamline the entire flow of the manufacturing process."

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